thank you so much for this review and putting text on the videos. t helps me understand more the lenses. I'm deciding whether to buy this or the 7 artisans.
It seems like this lens was made for shooting Steinbeck! The shot around 1:21 was the best but there were a lot of really compelling shots of him in here. It was nice to see some shots around the Pawnee Buttes, too. Colorado's mountains get all the love but I enjoyed my time on the eastern plains as much as my time in the mountains. It's a quieter beauty but gems like the Pawnee Buttes were always a delight to experience, especially in the comparative solitude compared to top mountain destinations. I'd wager that an easy Fourteener like Bierstadt sees more people on a summer weekend than the Pawnee Buttes do all year. Did you make it over to the ghost town of Keota when you were in the area? Neat area to shoot but watch for rattlesnakes!
Thank you! This turned out to be a fun lens to use, and that always helps with getting some decent shots. We loved Pawnee Buttes, and we did see Keota but didn't have time to stop and photograph. We let ourselves run a bit low on gas and with no cell service we didn't know where the closest station was. We had to skip Keota to try and find a gas station (and did, on fumes). I agree that there are some really fantastic places east of Denver that don't get nearly the attention that they deserver. The buttes were for sure one.
With most of these cheap lenses, the focus markings are way off, but usually there's a screw on the focus ring you can loosen, set it to the proper place, and re-tighten. I have a cheap ultrawide, if you focused it to the infinity marking and took a picture of a distant subject, it would be way out of focus. All the other markings were also way off. I focused the lens to infinity with live view magnification, loosened the screw, gently turned the ring to the infinity marking, and re-tightened the screw, now it works as it is supposed to. Its just sloppy assembly I guess, but easily fixed on most maual focus lenses. I guess this part of what you pay for with expensive lenses, they get checked more carefully. It took me a while to figure out what was going on with my ultrawide, at first I thought I was an idiot, the I thought the lens was broken or something, but once I fixed it, it became a whole new lens. Its worth doing this calibration on any cheap lens.
Yes, the focus point can be calibrated, but not the focusing scales. Those are printed on the body and their spacing can't be adjusted. As a baseline, the scales aren't spaced or placed correctly on any of the third-party lenses of this caliber that I've used. So my frustration is that inaccurate data are included and, simply, should not be. Including faulty focusing scales sends a bad message about the overall quality in the lens' design and build.
@@DavidHancock oh, yeah that is bad then, i'm looking at maybe picking up a lens like this, and i'm seeing very similar ones under various names that are f1.2 and claim to focus as closely as this one, for around 50% cheaper, likely the same or very similar design, and you're right about the message this sends, i love the look of some of the shots you've shown here, you pretty much sold me the lens, but those markings are sending me signals that its unlikely this pergear is better than whatever other brand selling a similar 35 f1.2, whether it is or not, that's what the markings are saying. I haven't decided for sure yet if i'll even buy any 35mm lens, but i think if i do, considering the levels of precision involved, i might just go for one of the cheaper f1.2s, or an f1.4.
thank you so much for this review and putting text on the videos. t helps me understand more the lenses. I'm deciding whether to buy this or the 7 artisans.
Thank you! I also have a video that compares five 35mm f/1.2 lenses, including this one and the 7Artisans.
It seems like this lens was made for shooting Steinbeck! The shot around 1:21 was the best but there were a lot of really compelling shots of him in here.
It was nice to see some shots around the Pawnee Buttes, too. Colorado's mountains get all the love but I enjoyed my time on the eastern plains as much as my time in the mountains. It's a quieter beauty but gems like the Pawnee Buttes were always a delight to experience, especially in the comparative solitude compared to top mountain destinations. I'd wager that an easy Fourteener like Bierstadt sees more people on a summer weekend than the Pawnee Buttes do all year. Did you make it over to the ghost town of Keota when you were in the area? Neat area to shoot but watch for rattlesnakes!
Thank you! This turned out to be a fun lens to use, and that always helps with getting some decent shots.
We loved Pawnee Buttes, and we did see Keota but didn't have time to stop and photograph. We let ourselves run a bit low on gas and with no cell service we didn't know where the closest station was. We had to skip Keota to try and find a gas station (and did, on fumes). I agree that there are some really fantastic places east of Denver that don't get nearly the attention that they deserver. The buttes were for sure one.
With most of these cheap lenses, the focus markings are way off, but usually there's a screw on the focus ring you can loosen, set it to the proper place, and re-tighten. I have a cheap ultrawide, if you focused it to the infinity marking and took a picture of a distant subject, it would be way out of focus. All the other markings were also way off. I focused the lens to infinity with live view magnification, loosened the screw, gently turned the ring to the infinity marking, and re-tightened the screw, now it works as it is supposed to. Its just sloppy assembly I guess, but easily fixed on most maual focus lenses. I guess this part of what you pay for with expensive lenses, they get checked more carefully. It took me a while to figure out what was going on with my ultrawide, at first I thought I was an idiot, the I thought the lens was broken or something, but once I fixed it, it became a whole new lens. Its worth doing this calibration on any cheap lens.
Yes, the focus point can be calibrated, but not the focusing scales. Those are printed on the body and their spacing can't be adjusted. As a baseline, the scales aren't spaced or placed correctly on any of the third-party lenses of this caliber that I've used. So my frustration is that inaccurate data are included and, simply, should not be. Including faulty focusing scales sends a bad message about the overall quality in the lens' design and build.
@@DavidHancock oh, yeah that is bad then, i'm looking at maybe picking up a lens like this, and i'm seeing very similar ones under various names that are f1.2 and claim to focus as closely as this one, for around 50% cheaper, likely the same or very similar design, and you're right about the message this sends, i love the look of some of the shots you've shown here, you pretty much sold me the lens, but those markings are sending me signals that its unlikely this pergear is better than whatever other brand selling a similar 35 f1.2, whether it is or not, that's what the markings are saying. I haven't decided for sure yet if i'll even buy any 35mm lens, but i think if i do, considering the levels of precision involved, i might just go for one of the cheaper f1.2s, or an f1.4.
very nice photos!!!
Thank you!